Children of the Sky
by JynxEcho
Summary: Basically, me and my friend's characters in the actual series. How the original characters would interact with the anime versions of ourselves. Somewhat SasukexOC
1. Character Summary

**Child of the Sky.**

Character Information:

Kaori Yume Tsukiko

13 years old

5'3

123lbs

July 11th

Elbow length Metallic blue hair with light blue streaks and black tips hair.

Cobalt blue eyes

Squad: Kakashi Hatake's Team. With Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno.

Sarcastic, truthful, tomboy, spunky, independent, LOVES MUSIC, friendly, caring, can be distant when asked about her past, can be very lazy, optimistic, calm, can be bubbly if really happy, and determined.

Her adopted uncle, Nariyuki, murdered their clan when Kaori was 8 years old. Kaori swore to avenge her clan, the Tsukikos, 'The Moon Children.' She later discovers that Nariyuki murdered her father out of jealousy. Turns out he wanted to marry Tsuna, Kaori's mother, instead of letting his brother marry her. Now, he wants to obtain the Spirit inside of Kaori and destroy the Hoshiko clan as well.

Parents:

-Sanosuke Tsukiko, Kaori's deceased father. Tsukiko clan descendant. Brother of Nariyuki.

-Tsuna Hoshiko, Kaori's deceased mother. Hoshiko Clan descendant. ('Star Children')

Best Friends:

-Okamiko Hyuga

-Akkiko Muri

-Yuni Watanabe

-Naruto Uzumaki

-Kiba Inuzka & Akamaru, too!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Okamiko Hyuga

13

Hyuga Clan

5'4

121lbs

March 16th

Dirty Blonde

Gray-blue eyes

Squad: Kurenai Yuhi's Team. With Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka. (and Akamaru!) :woof!: lol

Wild child, short tempered, friendly, easily distracted, smart, statistical, funny, strong willed, and cooperative.

Kaori's best friend, Okamiko and her family were in close ties with the Tsukiko Clan. When Nariyuki, Kaori's uncle, killed their clan and left Kaori to fend for herself, Okamiko's parents took her in as one of their own. Until Kaori turned 12, then she was given an apartment and moved out. As Kaori's second family, The Hyugas accepted her at a young age and are very protective of her. Okamiko and Kaori are Naruto's best friends and they are all pranksters at heart. Naruto just gets caught more often. ^.^' Okamiko is not an actual Hyuga like Hinate and Neji. She is adopted. She was actually raised by wolves and got seperated from her pack. Hinata's aunt, Natsumi, was in the forest around the Hidden Leaf Village picking herbs when she came across Okamiko, who was wandering around aimlessly. Long story short, Okamiko is a Hyuga, just doesn't have the Byakugan.

Best Friends:

-Kaori Tsukiko

-Akkiko Muri

-Yuni Watanabe

-Naruto Uzumaki

-Kiba Inuzuka & Akamaru

-Shikamaru Nara

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tsume Hoshiko Tsukiko

32

Daughter of a Hoshiko Elder and Kaori's Mother

5'8

142lbs

December 23rd

Pure white hair

Crimson red/brown eyes

Loving, caring, protective of her families, strong, fearless, fierce, was actually a tomboy herself at Kaori's age, natural born leader, and warm-hearted.

Born under the Hoshiko name, Tsuna is born with the Hoshigan, the rare Kekkei genki of the Hoshiko clan. This trait gives her access to secret jutsus created by the first generation of the Hoshiko clan. This Kekkei Genki is similar to her husbands clan, The Tsukiko, who posses the Tsukigan, a rare Kekkei Genki under the Tsukiko clan. Kaori, being born through the marriage of Ronin Tsukiko and Tsuna Hoshiko, inherited both Kekkei genki traits from both clans. However, the blood of the Tsukiko clan runs a little stronger than that of the Hoshiko, thus, giving Kaori access to the Tsukigan at birth.

After Kaori turned 6, she and her family moved to Konoha, where her fathers clan resided. Being surrounded by fellow Tsukikos, Kaori quickly developed control over her Kekkei Genki. Her Hoshigan, nevertheless, could only be trained under her mother, Tsuna. Meanwhile, in the village hidden in the clouds, the elders of the Hoshiko clan met with those of the Tsukiko clan and sealed the two sister clans guardian, The Lunar Tiger, Tora, to watch over and protect this uniquely gifted child from any harm that came unto her. Unfortunately, after her fathers adopted brother, Nariyuki Tsukiko, murdered all of the Tsukikos and his sister in law, Tsuna Hoshiko, that not even the watchful eye of Tora could not protect its young master from the emotional scars left by this dreadful incident. Since Kaori has very little experience with her Hoshigan, she cannot summon Tora. Realizing this, the Hoshiko elders send Kyo, Kaori's first cousin on her mother's side, to Konoha and bring her back to their village for training. He comes in later..muuuchhhh later in the story.

*Tora and his abilities will be explained later on.*

Tsuna was one of the top Jonin in the Hidden Leaf Village. She was even the fourth member on Kakashi's team, back in the day.

*********

NOTE! IN MY FANFICTION, INSTEAD OF 3-MEN CELLS, IT'S 4!!!!

*********

okay!

PS: Here are one of my friend's characters who will appear later on:

Akkiko Muri

14

5'5

122lbs

September 13th

Dark brown hair with blue bangs

Calm: Blue/green eyes. Sad: emerald green. Mad: Grey Normal: Chestnut brown. (It's part of her Kekkei Genki)

Strong fighter, brilliant strategist, very intelligent, sometimes bubbly, honest, funny.

Squad: Rock Lee, Neji Hyuuga, TenTen

Sensei: Might Guy

Best friends: Kaori, Okamiko, & Naruto!

Friends: TenTen, Hinata & Shikamaru

Family Info:

Her Mom is a top-ranked (and highly paid) Medical Ninja for the Village and her dad passed away when she was little.

YAAAAAAAY!!!! THAT ABOUT RAPS UP THE SUMMARY!!!!!

WOO!!!


	2. Chapter 1

Kaori's POV (age 8)

-Dream/Flashback-

"Morning, Mommy!" I cheerfully greeted as I entered the kitchen.

My mother turned around from the window above the sink, "Good morning, Kaori. Did you sleep well?"

"Uh-huh! And no nightmares either!"

She placed a bowl of cream chicken flavored ramen on the dining room table, "Okay now. Hurry up and eat your food, sweetie. Your uncle will be here later for his monthly visit."

I looked up at her, a noodle hanging from my mouth, "Hmm? Do you mean uncle Nariyuki?"

"Yup. Your father is already grocery shopping for my big dinner I'm planning for later on tonight."

Slurping the last of my ramen, I jumped out of my chair, "Done!"

Running up the stairs, I entered my bedroom and changed into a pair of black shorts and a purple t-shirt with a panda face on it. After putting my shoes on and strapping on my shuriken holster onto my right leg, I ran back downstairs.

"Okay mom! I'm going to school now!"

She handed me my small, black and white panda backpack, "I've already packed your lunch. Have a good day, now."

I kissed her on the cheek,"Okay, mommy!"

With that said, I started running for the academy. On my way there, I saw my dad carrying a few brown grocery bags.

"Hi Daddy! Bye Daddy! I'm off to school!"

He saw me and smiled, "Okay, Kaori! Train hard and be good!"

I waved at him as I passed,"Okay! See you tonight!"

That evening, I was running back to my clan's part of the village.

"Ack! I'm so late! I hope I don't get in trouble!"

Turning a corner, I slowed down and started walking to my house, when I noticed that all of the lights were off. The entire street; not even a glimmer off candlelight.

The silver moonlight guided me home on this eerie, too quiet night. Then, I started looking around for any signs of explanation.

"W-why aren't any lights on? Normally, Grandfather Yuki would be telling old war tales to Keri and Nani as bedtime stories about now."

As I continued walking, I began to question a power outage.

Shaking my head, I sighed,"That can't be it. The lights at the academy and even on the next street over are working fine. What is going on?"

When I finally reached my house, it didn't look any thing like the place I called home that morning. Instead, it looked like an abandoned building that had been untouched for many years. It lacked the warm family vibe and gave off a strong, unbearable stench.

My eyes widened,"B-blood…?"

Suddenly, a crash was heard from inside. Quickly, I silently ran inside and began looking around for whoever, or whatever caused such a noise. Preparing myself to search the second floor, something made me stop dead in my tracks before reaching the first step. Looking up I saw a large shadow on the wall in the hallway upstairs. It appeared to be tall and masculine, which ruled out my mother. And the hair was long and spiked downwards, so it wasn't my father, because his was short and spiked upwards. I was about to call for him, when I saw the shadow pulling what looked like long hair. Glancing farther to the side, I saw a woman's shadow.

So many thoughts were racing throughout my mind. What was my uncle up to? Why is the house so gloomy? What is he doing to my mother? And why does every room give off such a large stench of human blood?

As I questioned that last thought, my 8-year-old mind finished putting the pieces together. My uncle was jealous of my father, his brother, because my mother married my dad instead of him. He's been plotting his revenge since they married. He's already killed my father, my clan, beating my mother and next…

I looked up at the shadow as I was paralyzed in fear.

"_Next, he's coming after me!"_

Frantically looking around, I began to search for an inconspicuous hiding place. Then, I remembered the small cupboard underneath the stairs, and behind the bamboo plants my mother grew. Making a hand sign I whispered, "Transform."

Turning myself into a small kitten, I dashed for the hiding place. After squeezing behind the vases that held the bamboo, I slid into the small hole and sat as still as possible. Not even a second later, my uncle pulled my mother by her hair down the stairs, entered the living room, and threw her onto the floor. She struggled to rest herself on her forearms, letting a few strands of her snow-white hair cover her face. I was shocked to see determination and courage in her eyes instead of terror and spinelessness. She glared up at my uncle with an angry snarl on her face.

"You, bastard!"

He smirked down at her,"Oh come now, there's no need for that kind of language here. I just want to talk with my favorite sister-in-law."

"I've got nothing to say to you except GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

My mother pressed her ear on the carpet and attacked my uncle with her legs, locking him in a scissor kick. Then, she pushed herself up, using her arms, and flipped him into the air, causing him to spin around. That's when she jumped into the air and powerfully kicked him in his ribcage. He flew into the wall near the front door. Nariyuki stood to his feet and pulled out a kunai knife and threw it at her. She dodged it and threw five of her own at him, thus cutting him across the face and pinning him to the wall. My mom cautiously walked over to him with a kunai in each hand. Nariyuki coughed up a large amount of blood, and smirked as it ran down the corner of his mouth.

"Heh looks like I underestimated you, Tsuna. You are after all, a highly trained Jonin of this village."

She pulled back and prepared herself to strike at him, "Fool. Flattery will get you nowhere!"

Just before she could stab him, a burst of smoke appeared in the two spots that the two of them were standing. When the smoke cleared, I felt my heart stop. Nariyuki had used a replacement jutsu on my mother. So now, my mom was the one pinned against the wall and he was the attacker.

"Even so, I am a rogue ninja, an S ranked criminal. So you're the one who underestimated me, foolish woman."

My mother looked up in surprise,"What…?"

He made a hand sign I had never seen before, "Any last words before I reunite you with your pathetic husband in the after life?"

She hesitated then hung her head,"What do you want with Kaori?"

My body began to shake in fear at the mention of my name.

Nariyuki was a little taken back by this question, but he pulled himself back together, "Tora, The Spirit of the Lunar Tiger that lives inside of her."

I felt a confused expression appear on my whiskers, "Lunar Tiger?"

My mother looked at him with a mixed expression of anger, surprise, confusion, and honor?

"You're an insolent fool, Nariyuki."

"Heh. And why is that?"

She smiled with pride, "She is the only one who can control the Spirit. Because of the standing fact that the blood of a Tsukiko and a Hoshiko run through her. You aren't even a real Tsukiko."

Blinking, I tilted my head, "What?"

"You're adopted, aren't you?"

Nariyuki gasped at this, and then he became furious, "THAT'S ENOUGH OUT OF YOU! I WILL OBTAIN THAT **THING** INSIDE OF HER AND I WILL DESTROY ANYONE WHO GETS IN MY WAY OF DOING SO!!!"

He remade his hand sign into a different one, yet another I have never seen.

"I was going to show you some mercy before but you ticked me off, so this time, I'M NOT HOLDING BACK!!"

My mother and I gasped in unison.

"SECRET TECHNIQUE: FLAMES OF ETERNAL SUFFERING!!"

Looking over at my mother, I saw black and dark purple flames shoot out from the floor below her and surround her body.

She shot her head up and a horrifying scream escaped her mouth as the flames consumed her. While this happened, Nariyuki slowly turned his head and stared straight into my eyes.

"Don't worry. I won't kill your precious daughter just yet, Tsuna. She has to let her hatred feed off of her soul until she hates me enough to take my life as I so easily took yours and your husbands."

He turned his body towards me and made another hand sign.

"NOOOOO! KAORIII!!!" my mother shouted.

Suddenly, my body felt weak and my eyelids heavy. Feeling as if all of my strength had been sucked out of me, my jutsu canceled itself out and I fell onto the living room carpet. As I drifted off, I could hear my mother's screams getting softer and more distant with every passing moment.


	3. Chapter 2

Kaori's POV (5 years later)

-BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! -

"GAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" I screamed, springing upright in my bed. My heart was beating so fast against my chest, I could have sworn it was going to jump out of me. Wiping the sweat off of my forehead, I glanced at my alarm clock. It read 5:50am, ten minutes before sunrise. My heartbeat settled down, returning to normal. And I tried to gather my thoughts and feelings together and under control.

"It's been five years since the…_incident_." I said to no one in particular, "_Damn. Well, time for school. Sam shit, different day, I guess."_

After cutting off my alarm, I walked over to my closet and pulled out my outfit for the day: a dark green sports tank with the Japanese symbol in the center, separate slip-on sleeves that extended from my wrist to my elbows, and a pair of black cargo shorts with a white stripe on each side. When I finished changing, I slipped on my shoes, tied up my hair, letting a few strands of my raven colored hair hang in my face, then I strapped on my shuriken holster on my right leg. After doing so, I headed out the front door and headed for the academy. Halfway there, I reached into my shorts pocket and pulled out my iPod. Changing the song to 'Runaway' by Avril Lavigne, I soon arrived at the academy gates. Climbing a nearby tree, I jumped onto the academy rooftop and sat down. Resting my elbows on my knees, I waited for the sunrise. A few moments later, I saw the sun begin to rise above the treetops and rays of sunlight illuminated the streets of the village. A few moments passed before I felt the sunlight on my face. That's when I descended down onto the ground below and entered the academy.

Entering my classroom, I saw that I was the only one there, which didn't really surprise me because I was always the first one to show up. Walking over to my seat, which was on the same level as the first door, I sat down and sighed. Nothing interesting ever happened in class. Every day it was the same thing, all the girls, excluding myself, fought over this one guy who doesn't even care about them, the class-clown always messing up and goofing off, gets no respect from anyone except our sensei and myself. Only because his misunderstood and needs a friend is why I can stand him.

Just then, a boy with raven colored hair and dark eyes walked in. He was wearing a blue collard shirt with a red and white symbol on the back, and a pair of white cargo shorts. When he noticed me, he nodded in my direction.

"Tsukiko."

I nodded back, "Uchiha."

After greeting each other, he sat down at the desk in-front of mine and to in the seat in front of the one next to me. It wasn't long before more students entered the classroom and began to talk amongst themselves. All was nice and calm. Until suddenly, the classroom door on the same level as my desk, slid open, revealing two girls struggling to get in the room at the same time. One had long blonde hair, which was tied up into a high ponytail, and blue - aquamarine eyes. She wore a purple and white kunoichi dress with black shorts underneath. The other girl had long baby pink hair and light green eyes. She was wearing a red and white kunoichi dress, also with black shorts underneath.

I sighed to myself, "Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno, two of the most clueless kunoichi in the class."

Finally the two of them flew into the classroom at the same time. The two of them hunched over and rested their hands on their knees, panting like dogs out of breath.

"Looks like I win again, Sakura." The blonde one announced.

The girl in red stood up straight, "Ha! Yeah, right. I win, Ino Pig!"

She started prancing over to Uchiha's desk and sheepishly smiled, "Morning, Sasuke. Mind if I sit here?"

Ino ran over to Sakura, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, BILBOARD BROW? I GOT IN FIRST SO I GET TO SIT NEXT TO SASUKE!"

"IN YOUR DREAMS, INO! I GOT IN HERE WAAAAY BEFORE YOU BY AT LEAST A NANO-SECOND SO I GET TO SIT NEXT TO SASUKE!"

Their arguing assembled the other members of the 'I Love Sasuke Uchiha' fan club.

"I got here before either of you!" one girl exclaimed proudly.

Another one nodded, "So did I!"

"I entered the classroom before Uchiha, go figure." I mumbled.

While they all continued fighting, a mischievous thought ran across my mind. Hooking my IPod onto my waistband, I firmly placed my right hand onto my desk and performed a one-handed cartwheel into the empty seat next to Sasuke. The girls became silent as I kicked my feet onto the desk and leaned back in the chair.

Ino slammed her fist onto my 'new' desk, "HEY! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, SITTING NEXT TO SASUKE LIKE THAT?"

I unhooked my IPod and turned it around, revealing a nametag, "Kaori Yume Tsukiko"

She looked at me dumbfounded, "Huh?"

"You asked me who I thought I was and I'm pretty damn sure I'm this person, get it?"

The other girls gasped a bit as Ino blinked, completely taken back. Then, she got mad again.

"UGH! YOU BETTER WATCH IT, TSUKIKO SHOWOFF, OR ELSE!"

"Or else what, Yamanaka? Are you challenging me? Cause if you are, don't expect any mercy from me because you're my classmate. You won't get any."

I noticed Ino ball up her hands into a fist and I smirked in amusement. Then, the girls started whispering.

"Ino, don't! That's Kaori; she's the strongest kunoichi in our class. Not to mention she's tied with Sasuke for number one rookie in the academy!"

"Yeah, she's way out of our league, yours too!"

"C'mon Ino. It's just a seat. Nothing to get all worked up about. Hehehehe…."

Ino looked at me, still infuriated and for the next few minutes it was nothing but a stare down. Then, I sat down again and scoffed.

"Please. No way am I gonna waste any of my time on a pathetic weakling like yourself, Yamanaka."

Her mouth let out a low growl, "Grrrr! HOW DARE YOU CALL ME WEAK?"

"What can I say? I'm a daredevil. Heh."

With nothing else to say, Ino spun around and stormed off, sitting next to Shikimaru Nara, another one of our classmates and an okay friend off mine. When everyone else sat down, Sasuke smirked and brought his attention to me.

"Hn. Thanks."

I closed my eyes and smiled a bit, "No problem. But you owe me, Uchiha."

Just then, our sensei, Iruka, walked in dragging a boy in an orange jumpsuit with blonde hair behind him.

"Alright class, thanks to Naruto here, you all will be reviewing the Transformation jutsu."

A chorus of groans erupted from the student body around Sasuke and me. I stood up, started walking down to the front of the room, and stopped.

"If you're gonna complain over a basic jutsu, then what's the point of being here knowing that there are even more difficult jutsu to be learned? You're all pathetic!"

Sasuke slowly got up from his seat and started advancing down to the front, thus causing all of the girls to follow him and the other boys slowly made their way down.

Iruka pulled out his clipboard, "Okay, first up, Naruto Uzumaki."

Ino stood beside Naruto and grumbled, "Why do we always have to pay for your mess ups?"

"Like I care." He shot back, not intimidated.

Naruto stood in front of Iruka and made a hand sign, "TRANSFORM!"

Seconds later, a naked girl version of Naruto appeared in a flash of smoke.

Iruka's nose started bleeding and Naruto transformed back, "CUT THE STUPID TRICKS!"

Naruto started for his seat, as Iruka continued down the list of students.

"Sakura Haruno."

She walked in front of Iruka and did an exact copy of him.

"Good." Iruka sensei smiled.

Sakura spun around to face Uchiha, "Did you see that, Sasuke?"

Looking over at him, I saw him glancing in another direction.

Disappointed, Sakura walked back to her seat.

"Next, Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke made a hand sign and turned into a perfect copy of Iruka as well.

Iruka nodded in approval.

"Kaori Tsukiko."

I sighed and walked over to Iruka sensei. I could feel everyone's eyes on me and I smirked. Without doing a hand sign, I instantly transformed into a flawless copy of Iruka and his eyes widened in amazement.

"Very good, Kaori. And you didn't even have to do a hand sign. Impressive!"

After everybody's name was called and we all had returned to our seats, Iruka dismissed himself. I saw Naruto eyeing Sasuke in a 'why are you so special?' way. Before I knew it, Naruto had jumped onto our desk table and squatted in front of Sasuke.

"AH! NARUTO!" Sakura growled.

Naruto looked over at her, and then returned his gaze back to Sasuke and they glared at each other for a long time. Seeing as nothing interesting was gonna happen anytime soon, I change the song on my iPod to 'Crazy' by Se7en. It wasn't long before I heard loud gasps around me. Opening my eyes, I saw Sasuke and Naruto…kissing each other! In a split-second, the two of them started gagging and spitting like they had been poisoned. I felt my left eye twitching.

"And now, I'm scarred for life; lucky me."

Haruno and Yamanaka, followed by the other girls, slowly approach Uzumaki, who backed into corner.

"Naruto…." Sakura gritted, cracking her knuckles, "You're dead."

Before crazed fan girls jumped Naruto, I threw a kunai knife, which stabbed the desk in front of them, thus separating the defenseless Naruto from the group of angry girls. Ino glanced down at the kunai, then shot me a glare.

"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM, TSUKIKO?"

"YEAH!" Sakura added.

Standing up, I walked behind Uchiha's seat, stood in front of Naruto, and retrieved my kunai knife. Twirling it around my index finger, I smirked.

"Hn. You wanna know what my problem is?"

"Uh, duh." One girl commented, "Why else would we have asked you?"

"My problem…is all of you."

They all gasped and I continued.

"You don't even care about being a ninja. All you do is flirt with a guy who couldn't care less about your existence."

Ino raised her fist, "HOW DARE YOU!"

"Oh, I dare, Ino, I dare. Because, it's about time someone put you in your place."

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT US!" Sakura barked.

Raising an eyebrow, I returned my knife to its pouch, "Oh I don't? Okay well, let me take a wild stab in the dark here, then. You wake up early in the morning to fix your precious hair in some ridiculous fashion. Next, you apply so much make up on your face that it looks like you're a clown school runaway. Your clothes, ha! I got a call this morning from a second-rate fashion designer. She wants her rejected designs back. And let's not forget that disgusting perfume you drown your clothes in! On behalf of environmentalists everywhere, thank you for increasing the hole in the ozone layer!"

With that said, I calmly walked over to the classroom door and I turned my head to face them.

"All of you, especially you two, Ino and Sakura, are a disgrace to kunoichi everywhere. I feel dirty knowing that we're from the same generation."

Exiting the academy gates, I decided to head for the training grounds and get a little practice time in.

About five and a half hours later, I was laying on my back, gasping for air. Sweat ran down my face as I tried to catch my breath. Standing up, I stretched and sighed. Then, I walked over to the edge of a nearby river. The water was still and I, decided to swim around for a bit. Not caring about the fact that I still had my clothes on, I relaxed my body and fell into the river. Drifting down to the bottom headfirst, I began to clear my mind. But for some strange reason, I felt like someone else was here. Reaching the bottom, I kicked my feet off of the riverbed, sending my body for the surface. When I was a few inches below the surface, I saw a blurry image standing at the edge of the water. I made a hand sign and a stream of water the shape of a long blade extended out from the surface of the water to the throat of whoever else was here.

Focusing my chakra to the soles of my feet, I was able to stand on top of the water. Looking over at the target of my jutsu, I was taken back in surprise and canceled my jutsu, returning the water to the river below. I sheepishly scratched the back of my head.

"Heheh. Sorry, Okami."

My best friend, Okami Hyuga, stood there, frozen in fear and laughed nervously, "N-no p-problem, Kaori. Heh..!"

She fell to the ground on her butt and tossed her head back in relief.

"Sorry. I didn't know who you were. It is kind of blurry under there."

Okami look at me with an emotionless expression on her face, "You're kidding, right? I mean, come on! I'm the only one who comes here at this time of day! Beside, what are the odds that someone would be stupid enough to attack _you_ in a river, when your clan is best known for their amazing yet deadly water jutsus?"

I started walking over to her, "True."

Plopping myself down next to her, I sighed and she gave me a funny look.

"Alright, Kao. Spill."

"Spill what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Okami turned her body and sat Indian style, "The lemonade. You know what I'm talking about."

"If I did, I wouldn't be giving you my infamous, 'I have no idea what the flip you're talking about' look, now would I?"

She threw blades of grass at me and chuckled, "Oh be quiet! I'm talking about what happened in school today, silly."

"Oh. Wait, where were you anyways."

"Uhhhhh. I, um, my chicken had the chicken pox and I had to stay home to nurse him back to health. Haha!"

I looked at her like she had three heads, "You're joking, right?"

"Well, enough about me. How was your day?"

" I'm going to pretend you didn't just now change the subject, but nothing interesting happened, really. I just called out the 'I love Sasuke Uchiha' fan club."

"WHAT? AND I MISSED THAT?"

"It felt pretty good actually; to get all of that off of my chest. I can now go to sleep at night. Yay me!"

She fell onto the grass behind her, "The one day I don't go to school. I am so unlucky!"

"Oh yeah. Graduation exams are tomorrow, so you need to call in a chicken-sitter for that."

"Huh? Chicken-sit—OH! Yeah, heheh. Chicken sitter. For my uh chicken. Haha. Yeah. Oh would you look at the time! I must go give Sir Chicky his tomato bath now! Chicken pox is contagious, you know!"

She stood up to leave, "See you tomorrow, Kaori!"

"Later."

With that said, Okami took off back towards the village, while I stayed for a few minutes. A warm breeze blew through the area and I sighed again. Lying on my back, I let the soft rays of the late afternoon sun hit me. As I closed my eyes, I began to think about my past. How my twisted uncle murdered everyone who was close to me at such a young age. And how I swore revenge on him even if it cost me my life.

"I won't let him get the best of me. I will avenge my people."

Standing up, I turned around a bit too quickly and accidentally bumped into someone. As I fell onto the grass again, I threw my hands up in humor.

"Gravity does not like me today!"

Looking up, I saw familiar jet black eyes and smirked.

"Looks like we meet again, Mr. Uchiha."

"Hn."

Sasuke extended his hand and helped me up.

"So," I started, brushing myself off, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you."

"Why is that?"

"I wanted to ask you something."

I shrugged, "Ask away."

"Why'd you do that today?"

"Do what?"

"Stand up for that loser."

"Who? Naruto?"

He nodded, and I sighed.

"I'm just a karma person, really. When somebody insults him, I insult him or her. They receive bad karma for criticism, and I receive good karma."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "For insulting them?"

"Aha! But for good intentions!"

After I said this, he continued to look at me funny. And I shook my head in pity towards myself.

"I'm getting that look a lot today, I guess."

The two of us were silent for a while and I started walking away in the direction of the village.

"See you tomorrow, Uchiha."

"Hn." I heard him exclaim.


	4. Chapter 3

(…. Macaroni…. and cheese…mwahaha..lol. lol)

I woke up early the next morning, around 7:30am. Today was graduation day from the academy. And boy, was I glad to get out of there! After taking a quick shower, I changed into a black sports tank with the saying, 'I am what I am' in crimson red letters, and a pair of black cargo shorts. Then, I started brushing my hair. Subsequent to deciding to leave it down, I grabbed my iPod, turned to 'With arms wide open' by Creed, slipped on my shoes, and headed out the front door. Walking down the street that led to Okami's house, I saw Naruto enter the Ichiraku Noodle house.

"Of course. Haha, that Naruto."

Arriving at Okami's two-story house, I knocked on the front door. A few minutes later, the door opened and Okami's mother, Natsuki, smiled at me.

"Good morning, Kaori. How are you? You doing okay?"

I nodded and returned her smile, "Morning. I'm okay. Thank you."

"You know, you're welcome to our home if something happens. Our doors are always open."

"I'm fine, thank you though. Is Okami ready?"

She blinked and turned around to face the main room, "OKAMI! KAORI'S HERE!"

"I'M COMING!" I heard Okami yell back.

Soon, Okami appeared beside her mother in a blue t-shirt with the symbol for 'wolf' on the front and a pair of black capris and sighed, "Alright. I'm ready."

I nodded, "Hm. Let's go then. Later Mrs. Hyuga!"

Okami's mother waved back, "Have a good day, girls! And good luck on your graduation exams!"

"Will do, mother!" Okami replied.

The two of us started walking towards school, making a little small talk here and there. When we arrived at the academy, we unhesitatingly walked in. Entering the classroom, I noticed Uchiha was already sitting down at his desk. He looked up and smirked when he saw us.

"You're late, Tsukiko."

I smirked back, "What are you, my alarm clock now?"

"Maybe."

"Okay then."

Walking over to him, I softly smacked him on the back of his head, "Snooze."

Okami snickered and we sat down at the table one level down, in front of his.

"Hey Kaori?" Okami asked.

"Hm?"

"Are you scared about the graduation exam?"

I looked at her confusingly, "What is this 'scared' emotion you speak of?"

She laughed again and I shook my head smiling.

"Nah! I'm confident, actually. Most of the time, these things are basic. So, I've got nothing to worry about."

Okami nodded in agreement, "Definitely!"

Soon, more students came in and unfortunately, so did the 'Uchiha lovers squad'. I turned my head to face Sasuke.

"Your beloved fan girls are here, Uchiha."

He shot me a sarcastic look as they ran over to him and started fighting over the seat next to him, again.

At first, it wasn't bothersome, but soon it became very annoying. Letting my anger get the best of me, I stood up, walked over to the chair, and, with the help of Okami, threw it out one of the windows. I put my hands on my hips and smiled.

"There! All better!" Okami laughed.

We soon received glares from Ino and the others, and I simply shrugged.

"What? I couldn't hear my music."

Laughing even more, Okami slapped me a high-five and we sat down again.

Moments later, Iruka sensei entered, armed with his sidekick, 'Mr. Clipboard'. And began reading off our names.

"Kaori Tsukiko."

Okami gave me a thumbs-up sign, "Looks like you're up."

"Lucky me."

"HEY, TSUKIKO-SHOWOFF!" Ino sneered, "BREAK A LEG, LITERALLY!"

The other girls started laughing as she folded her arms in triumph.

I smirked at her, "Sure, but what hospital room will you be in? I'll bring Okami and we'll sign your leg cast."

Okami stuck her tongue at Ino and pulled down the skin underneath her eye, "Nah, nah! What now, Ino?"

Ino glared at her as she sunk down in her chair.

I entered a separate room and saw two jonin, along with the Third Hokage, sitting down at a table. There was another table with Leaf Village headbands on them. Walking over to the middle of the open space in front of the table, I sighed.

"What do I have to do?"

"Create a simple clone and you'll pass." The hokage instructed.

I made a perfect copy of myself, once again without the use of a hand sign, and smirked.

"You pass."

Iruka sensei handed me a headband and I walked into the hallway to wait for Okami.

After the exams, Iruka dismissed us and everyone ran outside to meet up with their families. Okami went over to her mother, father, uncle, little brother, and cousin, Hinata. I wandered around in the crowd until I felt like I was being watched. Turning my head to the right a bit, I made eye contact with Sasuke. And he was alone. Looking at his eyes more closely, I saw a glimpse of sadness in them. He blinked and nodded at me. I nodded back and smiled, and was about to continue over to the gate when something stopped me.

"Hey, look over there."

"Where?"

"That kid on the tree swing."

"Oh I see. Isn't that the kid with that _THING_ inside of him?"

"Yeah, but we're not supposed to talked about it; Hokage's orders. Anyway he failed again."

Walking over to the two ladies, I slid my hands into my pockets and smirked.

"I'd appreciate it if you would refrain from criticizing my friend there."

One of them chuckled, "And what if we don't?"

"If I told you that, then I'd have to kill you."

They gasped a bit as I walked over to Naruto. Sitting down at the base of the tree, I looked up at him

"You okay?

He sighed, "I'm fine."

"Naruto. Don't be so upset about it. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise that you didn't graduate on the same day as the rest of us."

"What do you mean?"

Standing up to my feet, I put one hand on my hip and the other on my headband, "Well, maybe you're destined to do something a little extra in order to get one of these babies on your forehead. Who knows?"

"Hey Kaori?"

"Hm? What is it, Naruto?"

"Why are you always so nice to me, not that it bothers me or anything. Just asking."

I smiled, "Hm. It's like this. When I was little, one of the most important lessons my parents taught me was to treat others in a way you wish to be treated in return. When people insult you, that's saying that they wish to be insulted. So, I defend you with good intentions."

Naruto looked at me like I had spoken in a different language or something and I sighed.

"It's a karma thing. What goes around comes around, get it?"

He nodded, "Oh, okay! I get it now!"

"Haha, good. Well, I'm off! See you tomorrow!"

Walking towards the academy gates, I turned and waved to Okami and her family, then continued on my way.

Moments later, I was once again on the outskirts of the village. This time, I headed for the Memorial Stone. When I arrived, I stood in front of it and searched for familiar names. Finally, I found those names I was looking for and I smirked.

"Hn. Rayne-Ni Tsukiko, Tami-Li Tsukiko, and Shiroi Tsukiko. You lucky bastards. Killed in battled defending this village instead of being murdered by a traitor. My best friends under family, you three go and die with honor. Good for you. Hope you three are living large up there. I'm going to avenge our people and come out on top. And when I die, it won't be from getting myself killed. I'll die of old age, instead."

I laughed at this and sighed, then, I felt an unfamiliar presence nearby. Quickly, I spun around and threw a few kunai knives at the intruder. After seeing whom I had just attacked, my eyes widened in surprise as my kunais missed my target and pinned a tree instead.

"L-lord Hokage?!" I gasped, completely shocked.

He walked out of the shadow of the trees, smiling.

"As always Kaori, your instincts are remarkably sharp."

"My lord! I am so sorry!"

"It is alright. I thought you would be here. I wanted to speak with you."

"What is it?"

He stood beside me, facing the stone, "The day after tomorrow is the day, correct?"

I hesitated before hanging my head, causing my bangs to cover my face, "Yes. It is. The anniversary of that incident that happened five years ago…."

The two of us became silent as a gentle breeze blew through the area.

"Kaori."

"Hm?"

"It is alright to feel sorrow at times like this. Experiencing these emotions and confronting them makes one stronger."

"I know. It's just that, nobody knows exactly what I'm going through. There's no one who truly understands my pain. I feel so alone even though there are so many who care about me."

A smile appeared on the Hokage's face, "Actually, there is someone who is going through the same thing as you."

"With all due respect, sir, Naruto only knows what it's like to be alone, not what it's like to have someone from your own clan take everything you held precious away from you. There is not a single person in this village who could possibly comprehend that."

"Tell me Kaori. Do you know Sasuke Uchiha?"

My head shot up at the mention of his name, "Yeah I do, actually. We're both tied for top rookie in our class. Why?"

"His clan was killed by his own brother, Itachi Uchiha, when Sasuke was very young."

"W-what?"

"That is why he holds you as a rival but does not show it."

"I see."

He started walking away, "I will leave you to your duties. Tomorrow, you will be assigned a jonin and a squad, so I advise you to go home and rest."

I nodded, "Yes sir."

As he started for the village, I looked up at the sky and sighed.

"So, Uchiha is just like me, huh?"

I also started heading home for the night and smiled to myself in amusement.

"Interesting."


	5. Chapter 4

The Next Day – Kaori's Pov.

It was the day after graduation and Okami and I were on our way to the academy, preparing ourselves for what was in store. Wearing a black fishnet shirt that covered over a navy blue sports tank and a pair of navy blue cargo shorts, I took out a blue ribbon and tied my hair up into a messy bun.

"Um, Kao?"

I looked at Okami as I finished my hair, "Yeah?"

"Where'd you go after the exam yesterday? I saw you talking to Naruto and then you left."

"Oh, I went to the K.I.A stone after that. While I was there, I accidentally attacked the Hokage with a few kunai knives." I replied, casually.

Her eyes widened, "YOU DID WHAT?"

"Chill out, Kami, he dodged it, and after apologizing my butt off, we started talking."

"About what?"

"Oh, um, well, nothing in particularly important, just random stuff. And he told me that today at school, we're going to be assigned to our squads."

She grinned and straightened out her black t-shirt, "Really?"

I nodded.

"Too bad only a few genin out of our entire class are going to be given a squad. Good thing the two of us passed with flying colors, huh Kaori?"

"Yup. Now let's go witness th dawn of a new era."

She looked at me in an odd way as we entered the academy; "You're using old people's words now."

I smiled sheepishly as I pulled out my mp3 player, "Oops. Sorry."

Changing the song to 'The Pretender' by the Foo Fighters, the two of us walked into the classroom.

When we sat down at our desk in front of an emotionless Uchiha, I sighed.

"What's wrong, K?"

"Nothing. I just hope I'm not on Ino's team. Cause if I am, I'm going to go crazy."

She snickered a bit, "I second that emotion. If we get put on the same squad, that would be one hell of a team, though."

"True."

I turned around to face Uchiha, "Hello my emo friend. Como estas, yo?"

Sasuke looked up at me and smirked, "Why are you such a loser, Tsukiko?"

"All the better to annoy you with, my dear."

The two of us smirked and Okami busted out with laughter.

"Hey, Uchiha? I bet one of your adoring fan girls are going to be on your team. How does that make you feel?" she asked in an announcer's voice.

Before he could reply, Ino and the others burst into the room, and ran over to Sasuke. They seized their fighting in realization of the missing chair. Seeing this, I pointed out the window to the chair from yesterday and Okami started laughing once again.

"Looking for that?"

They all looked out at the chair in disbelief and then glared at Okami and me.

"Looks like you'll have to sit somewhere else, losers!" Okami laughed.

Soon, Naruto burst into the room and ran over to us.

"HEY KAORI AND OKAMI!"

We waved at him, "Morning Naruto."

He smiled at me and adjusted his headband, "Haha! Look what I got yesterday, Kaori!"

"I love it when I'm right about stuff."

Okami nodded her head in agreement, "Mm-hmm! Especially when you get that fuzzy feeling inside!"

"Oh please! You're just hungry, Ami!" I joked.

"Ahh. Guilty as charged!"

Just then Iruka sensei entered the room with his mighty clipboard and stood at the front of the room.

"Alright everyone. Settle down. I will now assign you to your squads."

Okami and I impatiently waited while he cleared his throat.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto perked up his head.

"Sakura Haruno."

"WOO-HOO!" Naruto cheered.

Sakura groaned, "Great, I'm stuck with Naruto."

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Her attitude changed from disappointed to blissful in a heartbeat, "YEAH!"

This time Naruto sighed in desperation. "Ohhhh…."

He stood up and started yelling, "WHY DO I HAVE TO BE ON THE SAME TEAM AS HIM?"

Iruka sighed, "Because, we've paired all of you up based on your final exam score. Sasuke receive one of the two highest scores, and you received the lowest. We're just putting the best student with the worst, is all."

Sakura raised her hand, "Um sensei? If Sasuke got one of the highest scores then, did I got the other one?"

He smiled sheepishly, "Actually, Sakura. You received the third highest score, a 95% to be exact."

She blinked, completely astonishment, "What?! Then who tied with Sasuke?"

"Your other teammate, Kaori Tsukiko."

The entire class gasped in surprise. Naruto threw his hands up and cheered, Sakura glared at me, and Sasuke smirked in amusement. So did I.

Okami raised her hand, "Iruka sensei? How many are on one squad?"

He looked down at his list, "Um, four."

"WHAT? YOU MEAN KAORI AND I AREN'T ON THE SAME SQUAD?"

"T-there's a perfect explanation for that, Okami. If we put you on her team, it would be a balance squad because you receive the second highest score, a 98%. So I t would be unfair to the others."

She calmed down a bit, "Oh, so whose team am I on, then?"

He looked at the list again, "You're with Hinata, Kiba and Shino."

"Hmmm. Okay!"

I sighed in relief. Okami has the patience and temper of a wolf. One minute, she's calm, but once something upsets her, duck and cover if you want to see daylight. Moments later, Iruka had finished reading off the other squads: Ino ended up with Shikamaru, Choji, and Yumi, a friend of Okami and I. When he finished, he prepared to leave the classroom.

"After lunch, you will meet back up with your teammates and go to your assigned rooms to meet your new sensei. Dismissed."

The others started leaving for lunch and Okami and I stood up.

"Hey Kaori. I'm gonna go eat with Hinata, okay?"

"No problem. I'll see you later."

She nodded, and then ran off with Hinata.

Sitting in a tree, I happily ate out of my bento box Okami's mother made for me. In the middle of eating a piece of salmon, I noticed Sakura sitting down on a stone bench across from my tree. Uchiha soon accompanied her and they started talking. For a minute, I paid no mind to the situation and continued to receive help from my favorite pair of chopstick on its mission to help transfer food to my mouth. Then, something struck me and I slowly chewed my food.

"Wait a second. Uchiha hates Haruno…."

After studying them for a few seconds I finally caught on to what was happening.

"Oh, Naruto. What are you up to now?"

Suddenly, 'Sasuke' ran away right when they were about to kiss, leaving Sakura sitting there dumbfounded. Packing up my bento box in my small backpack, I stood to my feet on the tree branch I was on. I was about to jump down when I noticed Uchiha had return, only this time, it was really him, not Naruto. I watched in interest as Sakura rambled on incoherently about Naruto. Preparing myself to slide my black, bamboo chopsticks into my pocket, something she said stopped me.

"The reason he acts like that is because he wasn't raised right. He has no parents; he's all alone."

I tightened my grip on my chopsticks as she continued, then I snapped.


	6. Chapter 5

Sasuke's Pov

I was about to comment on Sakura's opinion when all of a sudden, something whizzed by my face and pierced the stone bench Sakura was standing in front of. I looked at what had almost hit me and raised an eyebrow.

"A chopstick?! Piercing a stone bench?!"

Turning my head I started looking around and saw Tsukiko jump down from a nearby tree. She looked pissed off for some reason as she calmly walked over to Sakura, who pointed at Kaori in anger.

"WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR, TSUKI--?"

Before Sakura could finish her sentence, Kaori grabbed her by her throat and held her up.

"Shut up, Haruno."

Sakura gasped in fear and Kaori smirked.

"You're smart, but I'll give you some advice. When you don't know what you're talking about, shut up before that mouth of yours gets you killed. Got it?"

She nodded and Kaori released her grip on Sakura, causing the pink haired kunoichi to cough from lack of oxygen.

"You call Naruto annoying because you don't understand him. Yet, you talk about him like you know everything about him. Blaming it on loneliness like you discovered the emotion, but you have no idea what it's like, DO YOU?"

Sakura slowly shook her head as she continued.

"To be alone isn't a pleasant feeling. Knowing the fact that if you die nobody would care and everyone would forget you in a heartbeat. It's true. Naruto and I are similar yet different. I was lucky enough to have a family who loved me and protected me with their life. But someone took all of that away from me. Naruto, on the other hand, never experienced what it was like to have someone care about him. He was alone from the very start. Nobody paid any attention to him. That's why he acts out and pulls all those pranks, to get peoples attention. He doesn't care what people think of him, as long as they know he exists. At least he's trying his best, pushing himself beyond his own limit to get what he wants. He trains every waking moment of his life so that one day, he'll become a great ninja. The only reason you train is to be good enough to impress Uchiha. You're pathetic."

Kaori retrieved her chopstick from the bench and put it in her pocket. Then, she started walking away.

"You say Naruto is annoying but when you look at it from another perspective, you're the annoying one."

I heard Sakura gasp again as Kaori started walking away. I soon followed her back to the academy.

Soon, Naruto, Sakura, Kaori and I were all back in the classroom waiting for our jonin. Naruto continuously poked his head out into the hallway and Sakura started yelling at him for doing so.

"Naruto, get in here!"

"Where is he? The others already met with their teachers and are probably going on an awesome adventure by now!"

Looking over at Kaori, I saw her lying on her back on top of the desk next to me, twirling one of her chopsticks in her hand. I realized her mouth was moving and assumed that she was listening to her music, as always. I was still amazed that she pierced a solid stone bench with a measly chopstick.

"That took skill. She'd be an interesting person to fight, I bet."

Kaori sat up and looked over at Naruto, shaking her head in amusement. Following her gaze, I saw him standing on top of a chair, carefully placing an eraser on top of the classroom door, which was slightly opened.

"Naruto, don't." Sakura pleaded.

He jumped down and grinned, "Haha! That'll teach him!"

I sighed, "Idiot. He's a jonin, a highly ranked ninja. There's no way he'll fall for that."

"Sasuke's right, Naruto. Take it down." Sakura urged, agreeing with me.

Just then, we heard someone open the door. It was a man with spiky gray hair and a mask that covered most of his face. His headband concealed his left eye and his right one looked halfway open.

The four of us watched in disbelief as the eraser plopped onto his head.

At first, there was a long silence. Then, Naruto started laughing.

"I am so sorry, sensei! I told him not to do it but he wouldn't listen! I would never do something like that!" Sakura exclaimed.

Kaori scoffed, "Oh put a sock in it, Haruno. You're such a flipping kiss up!"

The shinobi sighed, "My first impression of this team is that you're a bunch of idiots."

Moments later, we were all on the rooftop. Our sensei leaned against the rail as the four of us sat down on the steps in front of him. He looked at each of us carefully, then cleared his throat and sighed.

"Alright. Why don't we each say a few things about ourselves? You know likes, dislike, hobbies, and dreams for the future and stuff like that."

Naruto raised his hand, "Why don't you go first, sensei? So we can see how it's done."

"Oh. Okay. My name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes and dislikes, you don't need to know about them. My hobbies, I have a lot of hobbies, actually. And my dreams for the future? Actually, I never really thought about it really."

Sakura leaned over to us, "All we got was his name."

"Alright. We'll start with you, in the orange."

Naruto adjusted his headband, "Okay. Believe it. My name's Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen; especially the ramen Iruka sensei buys me at the Ichiraku Noodle Shop. I dislike the three minutes you have to wait for the ramen to cook. My hobbies are training and comparing different types of ramen. And my dream is to be a great ninja and become Hokage!"

Kakashi nodded and looked at Sakura, "Okay. Your turn."

"Um, my name is Sakura Haruno. The things I like, well the person I like is, hehehehe! I DISLIKE NARUTO!"

Naruto whimpered a bit.

"AND KAORI!"

Tsukiko glared at her, "Shut up and bite me, you freakin' idiot."

Sakura growled a little before continuing, "My hobbies are, hehehehe! And my dream is to, Haha Haha!!"'

He gave her a hopeless look before moving over to me, "Now you."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't really like anything or anyone. I dislike a lot of things. My dream, which I will make a reality, is to restore my clan and destroy a certain someone."

Kakashi looked at me with hardly any expression, then nodded towards Kaori.

She sighed, "I am Kaori Tsukiko. I like climbing stuff, hanging upside down, fighting those who dare challenge me, and swimming. I dislike the color pink, annoying people with no lives, perkiness, and fan girls. Basically Haruno and Ino."

Sakura glared angry daggers at her as she continued.

"My hobbies are listening to music, cloud watching, intense, extreme, hardcore training, and watching sunrises and sunsets. And my dream…."

We all watched her in interest as she looked down, causing her bangs to cover her eyes before looking up at Kakashi.

"Is to kill the bastard who killed me."

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in curiosity as she said this.

Kakashi cleared his throat again, "Interesting. A student who likes training until her body is numb. I like you."

"I feel loved." Kaori smirked.

"Alright. That's enough for today. We'll meet up tomorrow for a special exercise."

"What kind of exercise?" Sakura asked.

"Well, if I told you, you wouldn't want to do it."

For a few minutes, we drilled him about telling us.

"Alright I'll tell you. It's a survival exercise. Putting you in the middle of a life or death situation. Pressuring you enough until you feel like throwing up."

We all stared at him in shock as he said this.

Kakashi smiled a bit under his mask, "See, I told you, you wouldn't want to do it."

He stood up straight and so did we, "Oh, and one more thing. Don't eat breakfast."

With that said, he disappeared, leaving the four of us on the roof.

Kaori stretched and sighed, "Well, I'm off to train until the pain is overwhelming. Hey Naruto?"

"Yeah?" he replied.

"You wanna get some ramen with me and Okami later?"

"YEAH! THAT WOULD BE AWSOME!"

She smiled, "Kay. Later, Uchiha."

I closed my eyes, "Hn. Later."

Kaori walked over to the rail, jumped onto it and headed for the outskirts of the village towards the training grounds.

Smirking to myself, I slid my hands into my pockets and turned to leave, "I'm out of here."

"Wait! Um, Sasuke?" I heard Sakura call.

I stopped to listen.

"Would you walk me home?"

"Hn. No."

"Oh okay, then."

Continuing on my way, I heard Naruto volunteer to do it, but she yelled at him in rejection.

Shaking my head, I sighed, "Losers."


	7. Chapter 6

Kaori's POV

I woke up around 7:30am, giving me half an hour to get ready and meet with my squad. Rolling out of my bed, I walked into my bathroom and turned on the bath water on hot. When the tub had been filled, I got in and the steamy, hot water stung my aching muscles.

I sighed, "Guess I over did it with the training last night. Oh well, I'll get use to it soon."

About fifteen minutes later, I had gotten out and changed into a black tank top and black cargo shorts. After slipping on my shoes, grabbing my shuriken holster then strapping it on, and tying my hair back, after braiding it into a single braid, with a black scrunchie, I headed for the training grounds.

We all arrived at the same time and patiently waited for Kakashi sensei to show up. Half an hour later, Sakura looked like she was going to drop in a few seconds, Naruto had already dozed off, but Sasuke and I were unaffected by sleepiness. Finally, Kakashi walked over to us, smiling.

"Good morning everyone."

Naruto and Sakura quickly stood to their feet and pointed at him, "YOU'RE LATE, KAKASHI SENSEI!"

He smiled sheepishly and scratched his head, "Oh, well, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way here."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, right."

For the next few minutes, our sensei explained the rules and whatnot of today's exercise.

Kakashi then walked over to a wooden post, placing a brown and gold timer on top.

"It's set for noon. Your objective is to take these three bells from me. You have four hours. Ready?"

We all prepared ourselves and nodded.

"Go!"

Moments later, we had all concealed ourselves in the surrounding environment. I saw Sakura under a bush, (SOOOOO obvious…) Sasuke in a tree, and I was hanging upside down from a tree branch on the tree next to his. Staying as still as possible, I mirrored the shadow of the broken branch a few feet in front of me. After stilling myself, I looked around for Naruto.

"He must of hidden himself pretty well if I can't find him." I thought to myself.

Just then, I saw a **bold**orange blob directly in front of Kakashi sensei. It was Naruto.

"Oh for the love of all that is chocolate flavored!" I whispered to nobody in general.

For the next few moments, Kakashi showed no mercy as he humiliated Naruto in so many ways, I felt sorry for him.

Slapping my hand onto my forehead, I groaned, "This is going to be a long day."

************************************************************

About fifteen minutes into the exercise, we had all split up to look for Kakashi on our own. I started walking around absentmindedly and soon threw my hands up in aggravation.

"Ugh! This is pointless! We can't take him down by ourselves, individually! Even I can see that this is a teamwork exercise! Yet I doubt Haruno will cooperate seeing as that in her eyes, I am competition in her mission to win over Uchiha, Sasuke sees me as a rival in skill and I also doubt he'll work with me! Hm. Naruto, maybe. Well, it couldn't hurt to try, right?"

I started looking around for Naruto, but I couldn't find him anywhere. Getting a little annoyed at this, I stopped and made a hand sign.

"Tsukigan! See everything!"

I felt my eyes tingle a bit, and then opened them.

"Focus, Kaori. Observe your surroundings and find your target."

Soon, I felt Naruto's chakra signature to the north of where I was standing. Taking off in that direction, I soon saw him hanging upside down by a rope tied to a tree branch. I threw a shuriken star at the rope, cutting it and Naruto fell to the ground below.

"Ow…" he exclaimed, as my shuriken flew back at me. Snatching it from the air, I returned it to its pouch and helped him up.

"You okay?"

He nodded, "I'll be okay."

"Good. I've figured out the key to this exercise, Naruto!"

"Really? What is it?"

"Teamwork."

Naruto looked at me like I was speaking a different language as I explained the plan, then he smiled sheepishly.

"Thanks but no thanks, Kaori. I can do it! Believe it!"

After refusing my help, he ran off into the forest and I sighed. Turning around and walking, once again in a random direction, I looked up at the sky and pondered my remaining options at hand.

"Alright, so much for that. Now I can only rely on Haruno and Uchiha. But where are they?"

As if on cue, a loud, ear-splitting scream pierced through the air like a thousand knives. After recovering from near deafness, I took off in the direction it originated from.

"That sounded like Sakura. Hm, she's screaming in horror and I'm not causing it? This'll be fascinating."

Soon, I arrived in a small clearing. Looking over, I saw her on the ground, unconscious. I noticed an illusion of Uchiha with numerous kunia and shuriken wounds disappear, and I shook my head in disappointment.

"God, what a loser; can't even handle a simple genjutsu. So sad."

I kneeled down beside her and shook her by the shoulders.

"Haruno? Haruno? SAKURA HARUNO! YO, PINKY!!"

She opened her eyes, which looked glazed, and screamed, "SASUKE!! NOOOO!"

I quickly covered my ears in pain, thus dropping her and she hit the ground pretty hard. Sighing, I blew a strand of my hair from my face.

"Guess there's only one way to get this girl's attention. TRANSFORM!"

Turning my self into Pretty Boy Uchiha, I tried waking her again.

"Sakura, wake up." Haha. My voice is weird.

Instantly, her eyes flew open and she started squeezing the life out of me in a bear hug.

"OH SASUKE! YOU'RE ALRIGHT!"

I transformed back and pushed her off, "Ew! Get off!"

She looked at my, puzzled, "Huh? Kaori?"

"Aw, great! Your preppy girlyness has made me itchy!!" I cried, madly scratching my arms.

"Haha, very funny, NOT! What do you want?"

I stopped scratching myself and sighed, "Well, the thing is. I need your help to get a bell. It's the key to this exercise."

At first she looked at me like I was the Easter Bunny and tomorrow was Christmas, and then she folded her arms and snickered.

"Yeah right. I'm on to you Kaori. You just want to use me to get a bell so YOU can impress Sasuke! Well, I'm not falling for it! I will get a bell, by myself, Sasuke will be so impressed, he will finally realize we were destined to be together and he'll fall madly in love with me and we'll live happily ever after!"

I had already started walking of at the 'use Haruno to impress pretty boy' part and she started yelling.

"HEY! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!"

"Look, unlike you, I have a life. So, if you don't want to help me, then fine, but don't torture me with your delusional fairy tale story. It's making me nauseous."

Leaving her standing there, dumbfounded, I began to roam around some more. Minutes later, I was up in a tree, thinking about my next move.

"Looks like Uchiha is my only hope."

There was a short silence in my surroundings after I said this. After realizing what I had just said, I hung my head in desperation.

"I'm doomed…"

Forcing myself to search for the infamous egomaniac, I heard another scream.

"If she screams one more time, I will tie her and Ino to a chair and throw them into a river!!"

Once again, I pondered the cause of her screaming in my absence and began to sprint towards the direction of the deafening shriek. Seconds later, I ended up in a large clearing, with a few patches of dirt here and there. A pink haired figure lay motionless in the middle of it. Rolling my eyes, I walked over to her. Halfway there, I saw Uchiha's head sticking out of the ground.

"Wow, an Uchiha plant. Hn, you're kind of in the wrong season, don't you think?" I joked, a smirk spreading across my face.

His right eye twitched a bit, "Funny, Tsukiko; Hilarious. Now would you get me out of here?"

"Oh my! The legendary Pretty Boy, Sasuke Uchiha? Asking for help? Golly gee, Batman! We'd better go alert the media!"

He started growling at me and I put my hands up in defense.

"Okay, Dude, calm down. I'll help you, just stop growling at me."

Kneeling down on one knee, I made a hand sign and closed my eyes.

"Earth Style: Earth Eruption Jutsu!"

I punched the dirt in front of him, which caused the ground beneath him to spit him out and he stood there in shock.

"How do you know- -Whatever." He scoffed.

I folded my arms, "Um I know you've probably never done this before, which is totally understandable in your case, but I believe that the phrase you're looking for is 'Thank you so much Kaori!'"

He turned his head and looked away, "Hn. Thanks…. Tsukiko."

"Not the best, but don't worry bud! You'll get it eventually! I'm sure of it!"

After I laughed a bit, I explained to him the whole 'teamwork thing.' Yet, he gave me the same reaction as the others.

"Hn. I don't need your help."

I raised an eyebrow, "Really? Then, how were you planning to defuse from Mother Earth?"

A long silence came over us.

"Exactly."

He looked at me, straight in my eye, "Look Tsukiko. Last time, I touched a bell. If I try again, I am pretty sure I'll get one. And I don't need your help doing that."

Hearing this, I balled my hands into tight fists and glared at the grass below, then looked at him directly into his cobalt black eyes.

"UGH! Fine! Whatever! I don't care any more! Screw this bull shit! Asking you three was a complete waste of my time! Go ahead and fail if you want to! But I'm going to shed blood, sweat, tears and even my own flesh to be the best! Because, I will bring honor back to my clan! MY CLAN IS DEAD BUT THEIR GLORY AND PRIDE BURNS INSIDE OF ME! I don't need you to fulfill my goal. I'll do it myself!"

With that said, I angrily stormed off to the lake Naruto fell in earlier, leaving Sasuke there to wake up his number one fan girl. After cooling off and calming myself down, I sighed.

"Stupid teamwork exercise. Three teammates and I'm the only one willing to cooperate. I'm the only one who'd actually do this by myself. I know I need them. I shouldn't be doing this by myself. With just me."

My head perked up realizing what I just said.

"Myself…I'm doing this by myself…. THAT'S IT!"

Making a hand sign, I shouted with a large smile on my face, "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

Opening my eyes, I came face to face with a solid clone of myself.

My copy smirked, "Yo!"

"Heh. Yo yourself. Okay! Enough talking to myself! Let's do this and let's do this my way!"

The other me gave me a thumbs up, "Which is always the right way!"

"Exactly! Now, let's go get us a bell!"


	8. Chapter 7

Kakashi's POV

I was walking around through the forest reading my Make-Out Paradise book, when I started looking around me.

"Hmmm. I've tricked Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. But, where's Kaori?"

As if on cue, I saw Kaori sitting down on the grass, her back up against a tree, and her earphones in her ears.

Smiling, I stood over her, "Hello, Kaori."

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei." She replied, smiling back.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing much. I'm sitting down, listening to my music, enjoying the beauty of nature, you know."

Studying her, I gave her a questioning look, "It looks like you're giving up."

"Yeah, that too," she sighed a bit, "Busted, huh? Don't worry sensei. I already know my rights; you don't have to read them to me."

Kaori looked away, huffed and folded her arms across her chest like an upset child, "Besides, even I can see that this is a teamwork based exercise. But, noooooo! I get stuck with a TEAM that refuses to WORK with me on ALL grounds! Therefore, what's the point?!"

Grinning to myself, I nodded, "Good work, Kaori. You figured it out. This is indeed a teamwork exercise and your goal was to use that teamwork in order to retrieve a bell. You thought it through with no shortcuts. I'm proud of you. It's almost noon, anyway. I'll leave you to yourself until then."

"Thank you, sensei."

As I turned to leave, I thought I saw a small smirk on her face and thought she was up to something, but I shook it off and continued on my way.

Moments later, the timer went off and I closed my book with a small snap.

"Now, the fun _really _begins."

Kaori's POV

It was about a quarter past noon and we all met back at the starting point. Naruto was tied to one of the three wooden posts, while Pinky, Pretty-Boy, and I sat on the grass. Feeling a bit uncomfortable sitting down, I stood up and leaned on the post to the right of Naruto. Then, Kakashi started lecturing us. My earphones were in and blasting 'Going Under' by Evanescence, thus tuning out his words. My attention wandered up to the clouds and I started picking out shapes and figures that they resembled. A navy blue and black blur sped past me, and snapped me out of my spazz moment. The blur was Sasuke, and apparently Kakashi said something to piss him off, because now, the grey hair shinobi had Pretty-Boy Uchiha pinned to the ground; Sasuke was on his stomach, struggling to get up while Kakashi held him down with his knee in his back. Then, he lectured us some more.

I rolled my eyes and returned my gaze to the sky. Hey look, that cloud is shaped like a bunny rabbit fighting a giant squid in a tutu….

"Sakura! You were too obsessed over Sasuke, that even though Naruto and Kaori were right there in front of you, you didn't even lift a finger to help them!"

I watched her as she rubbed her arm in embarrassment while he continued.

"Naruto! You just want to do everything by yourself, even when Kaori offered you assistance!"

My blonde haired friend hung his head in shame as sensei moved on to Sasuke.

"And you, Sasuke. You thought the others were so far beneath you, that they were useless. You were wrong…."

Suddenly, Kakashi pulled out a kunai knife and held it to Sasuke's neck, "Sakura! Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!!"

A gasp escaped Sakura and Naruto began to panic and sweat bullets of fear. But as for me, my instincts kicked in.

In less than three seconds, I had created a shadow clone, appeared behind Kakashi and gained possession of his kunai. I then used the hilt of the knife to hit him in the spine, temporarily stunning him. While I was doing all of this, my clone had already grabbed Sasuke and returned him safely to where Sakura and Naruto were, then she diminished with a poof. When Kakashi had regained his composure, I was standing in front of him with his kunai at _his_ throat now.

"Sensei. I do not wish to harm you with your own weapon. For that would strip you of your dignity as a jonin, and not to mention look down right pathetic since I haven't even been your student for forty-eight hours yet. So, I advise you to either cool it or I'll turn your neck into Swiss cheese."

He sighed and chuckled, "Hm. Very well, Kaori."

I nodded, dropped his kunai to the ground and cautiously began to walk backwards towards the posts. When I had returned to my spot against the post next to Naruto, Kakashi continued his speech.

"….Long story short: you were supposed to use teamwork to complete this exercise"

"Team work?" Naruto questioned.

"Yes. Teamwork. If you all had come at me at once, there would have been a high chance that you would have gotten a bell."

Dude, I just found a cloud that looks like a break-dancing panda bear with a carrot in its mouth!

"…I'm not sending you back to the academy." Kakashi sighed.

Naruto started kicking in happiness, "Alright!!"

"Ah! Then, that means…?" Haruno trailed off cheerfully.

Sensei smiled, "Yes. That means you should all just give up being ninjas all together!"

Everyone was shocked and taken back a bit.

"That's right. YOU ALL FAIL!!!"

While my team was about to have heart-attacks, I raised my hand.

"Excuse me, sensei?"

He glanced at me, "Yes?"

I placed my hand behind my head and smiled sheepishly, "What did we have to do? You know, in order to pass?"

Sasuke's POV

I looked over at Tsukiko after she asked her question and thought to myself.

"_He just told us, loser_."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Um, you had to work with someone from your squad and get a bell."

"Oh. So, does that mean I failed, too?"

He blinked, "Um, yes?"

"Why?"

"Because you didn't work with a squad member to get a bell?"

Tsukiko rubbed her chin as if she was thinking, "I see. And, who is on this squad?"

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and you."

"Who is 'you'?"

"You. Kaori Tsukiko."

She tilted her head down so that her bangs covered her eyes, and she smirked.

"_What is she smirking about?_" I wondered.

That's when she slowly reached into her pocket and pulled out one of Kakashi-sensei's bells.

My eyes widened in shock, "W-What?!"

Kakashi stared in awe as well, "How d-did you?"

She tossed the bell to sensei, who caught it and looked down at it.

"Hahaha! It wasn't easy, I'll tell you that much. Doing a teamwork exercise with an every-man for himself team? Talk about mission impossible!"

Tsukiko continued to laugh for a while, as Kakashi remained dumbfounded.

"I see. You are a descendant of the Tsukiko clan, known for their quick thinking, full-proof strategizing, and their unlimited confidence. Tell me, how'd you do it?"

She folded her arms across her chest and smirked, "Simple. When you approached me earlier, the Kaori you were talking to was a clone."

Looking over at Kakashi, he seemed shocked and confused at the same time.

"I, the original Kaori Tsukiko, was hiding up in the tree behind the two of you, and then I performed an invisibility jutsu along with a chakra cloaking jutsu to hide my physical form and my chakra signature so you couldn't sense my presence. After doing so, I quietly appeared behind you and did a transportation jutsu to remove the metal ball from the inside of the bell to my hand so that when I performed the same jutsu on the actual bell, it wouldn't make noise when I took it. And finally, I hid back up in the tree until you left. So, _technically_, I DID use the help from a member of my squad. Me."

My mouth would have dropped to the ground if I had no control over myself.

"_Amazing._"

Kaori's POV (….again.)

After explaining my brilliant and ingenious plan, my sensei and my teammates were speechless. Later, Kakashi allowed everyone to eat lunch except for Naruto because he tried to cheat and steal the food in mid-training. Sensei instructed us to eat, and try again, but we weren't allowed to feed Naruto. Then, Kakashi left.

Haruno and Uchiha started eating while I just stared at my unopened bento box.

"Hmmmmm…"

Standing up with my now opened lunch, I stood in front of Naruto and held out my lunch, smiling.

"Here, Naru-kun."

He looked at me, "Huh? But, you'll--"

"It's okay. I'm not hungry. Besides, if you're hungry, you won't be able to focus because your hunger will be distracting you the whole time and you won't be able to give it your all, right?"

Naruto looked down at my lunch, up at me, then down at my lunch again. I smiled some more to assure him that I was serious and it was okay. Soon, Uchiha also had his lunch held out to Naruto.

Sakura gasped, "Sasuke, no! We'll get in trouble!"

He scoffed, "If Naruto is too weak to fight, he'll be of no use to us."

She looked at her lunch and sighed.

"Here, Naruto." Haruno said, giving her lunch to him as well.

He blinked, "Sakura, but--."

"It's alright. I'm on a diet anyway…."

My eyes practically popped out of their sockets when she said this.

"_What the hell? Diet? This chick's already as thin as an anorexic praying mantis! What the fudge?!"_

I grinned as a wicked thought appeared in my head, "Hey Haruno. With Naruto's hands tied up, you'll have to feed him."

God, I'm so evil.

Her eye twitched, "WHAT?!UGH! Fine! But only this once! This is a one time thing, Naruto! NO MORE! You got that?!"

He nodded happily and she began feeding him some rice.

"Hurry up. He'll be back any minute now…" Uchiha warned, looking over his shoulder.

As I sat on top of the post I was leaning on earlier, Haruno continued to feed Naruto, which was really amusing to watch. Too bad the sun's down already. My clouds are far gone now…hehe. Break-dancing panda…ha-ha. I have got to tell Okami…

Just then, Kakashi appeared out of nowhere and he looked pretty angry.

"**YOU!!!"**

Naruto and Haruno had horrified expressions on their faces while Uchiha and I looked at our sensei as if he had just gone off the deep end.

"**WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"**

Standing up on the post I pointed at Naruto, "If he's hungry, he won't be able to concentrate on the mission!"

"And," Pretty-Boy added, "If that's the case, he'll be useless to us _during_ the mission."

Haruno stood up, "Yeah! We're a team! We are one!"

Kakashi pulled on his glove, "**YOU ARE ONE?! THAT'S YOUR EXCUSE?!"**

I heard Naruto gulp as thunderclouds appeared in the sky.

"**WELL?!"**

"Um, yeah. That's pretty much it." I answered, sheepishly.

Kakashi's face relaxed into a smile, "Congratulations, you pass."

"WHAT?!?!" we all chorused.

"You pass."

"But, how?" Haruno asked, "Not that I have a problem with it or anything."

"You see," he started, "Since this was a teamwork exercise, you had to work as a team, right?"

Sakura nodded, "Yeah, I know, but – wait a second. There were only three bells, but only _four _of us. So, even if we did get a bell, there'd be one person without one."

Kakashi started explaining some more, "True. If you had used teamwork, someone would go hungry. I pitted you four against each other to see how you all would react when you figured this out."

CUE SHORT ATTENTION SPAN SPAZZ MOMENT!!!

Oooh! A butterfly!

My eyes followed the butterfly as it flew past Kakashi's head as he talked. It continued flying until it landed on the large, shiny black stone behind sensei; The K.I.A stone.

He noticed my lack of concentration and followed my gaze before walking over to the rock that held my attention.

"This is a memorial stone. A stone that represents the special ninja that gave their lives for this village."

Naruto started cheering, "HAHA!! That's what I'm gonna be! A special ninja! Hey, Kakashi-sensei? What makes those ninja special?"

"They're all K.I.A."

"Oh, wow! K.I.A., huh? That sounds so cool!"

Sakura looked over at Naruto and said in a gloomy voice, "It means, they were killed in action, Naruto. They're ninja who died in battle to protect our village."

Naruto's expression saddened as Kakashi continued to stare at the stone.

"Some of the names of my closest friends are engraved here."

I looked down, trying to fight back the tears that were starting to form.

_Some of my family members are up there as well…_

"Anyway, you broke a rule to help your teammate. Those who break rules are scum…"

_Gee, thanks._

"…but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

_Sweet; I'm scum but in a good way. Wait. Is that legal?!_

Kakashi turned to face us with a smile on his face.

"Congratulations, you pass! Squad Seven starts its first mission tomorrow!"

Naruto smiled as he looked at sensei in admiration, "You know, he is kinda cool."

"Alright team, let's go home."

Sasuke, Sakura and I followed him as he headed back towards the village.

"HEY! YOU GUYS! AHHH! WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME?!"

I quickly turned around and ran back to untie Naruto.

"Sorry!"

"It's okay, Kaori. Hey, I know! I'm gonna go get some Ichiraku ramen! Wanna come?"

I shook my head and smiled, "No thanks, maybe some other time, okay?"

He ran off, waving back at me, "Suit yourself. Bye, Kaori!"

I waved back before heading home myself.


	9. Chapter 8

Kaori's POV

"_Okay. First mission. No biggie. Breathe in…breathe out. Breathe in…hey, I wonder where everyone else is? Where's Kakashi sensei? I am so getting ramen with Okami after this, because I AM STARVING! Why does my chest hurt? OH CRAP! BREATHE OUT! BREATHE OUT!! AHHHHHH!!! MY LUNGS!!!....Alright, I'm okay now."_

"Kaori, you there?"

"_What the? Who's that?"_

"Hello?"

"Kao-Chan? Are you still there?"

"_Oh shit. There are __**TWO**__ voices now?"_

"Tsukiko, you idiot, what the hell are you doing?"

"_AHH! THERE ARE VOICES IN MY HEAD AND THEY'RE NOT MY USUAL ONES!!!"_

I heard a slight chuckle, "Hm. She is just like her mother. Kaori? This is Kakashi. You are wearing a headset, remember?"

That's when it hit me. We were in the middle of a forest not too far away from the village, on our "mission."

"Oh, yeah." I said out loud.

"Idiot…"

"You know what, _UCHIHA? _You need to stay on your side of the headset!"

"Focus you two."

"Yes, sensei."

"Alright, team. What's the distance to the target?"

"Five meters. I'm ready anytime." Pinky's voice announced.

Uchiha tuned in, "So am I."

"Me too." added Naruto.

I nodded to myself, "Ditto for me."

"GO!"

The four of us closed in on the target, hiding behind trees every once and a while. Soon, our objective came into view. And we pounced.

"URAA!!!!!!!!!"

Naruto grabbed the target tightly so it couldn't escape.

"HAHA! GOTCHA!!"

The "target" was a cat, Tora to be exact, and our mission was to return it to its owner.

"_Damn kiddy missions…" _I thought bitterly as I leaned against a nearby tree.

"Ribbon on the left ear…Are you sure this is the target, Tora?" Sakura asked while the cat began to mercilessly attack Naruto with it's claws.

Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, we're sure."

Kakashi's voice chimed in again through the headset, "Good. Lost Pet "Tora" Search Mission: Complete!"

Moments Later…

We were all back in the village, standing in the Hokage's office with Iruka-sensei, and the owner of Tora, Madam Shijimi, the Fire Country Lord's wife, who isn't the skinniest person in the world, if I do say so myself.

"Oh, my cute little Tora-chan. I was so worried!"

"Hahaha! In your face you stupid cat!" Naruto taunted as the lady continued to squeeze the life out of her cat.

"_Po or cat. I thought animal cruelty was illegal?"_

The Hokage cleared his throat before reading off of a sheet of paper.

"Now…Kakashi's Team #7, your next duty is…Hmmmmm….Babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighboring village, and help with the potato digging."

I tilted my head back and stared helplessly at the ceiling, "_Oh, just smite me and get it over with!"_

Naruto waved his hands around in objection, "NO!! NO!! NO!! No, thank you! I want to do, you know, a more incredible mission!!!! Find us a better one!!"

"_Amen, my blond friend!"_

Iruka's face reflected a mix of anger, surprise and annoyance, "YOU IDIOT! YOU'RE JUST A ROOKIE! EVERYONE STARTS OFF WITH SIMPLE DUTIES AND WORKS THEIR WAY UP!"

My Ipod's volume "magically" increased and Green Day's "She's a Rebel" danced into my head as Naruto and Iruka continued their war of words. Then, the Hokage began to explain to Naruto the different ranks of missions, and which ninja got what kinds of missions. How Jounin got A-ranked missions, Chunnin got B and C-ranked missions, and how Genin, like us, received C and D-ranked missions.

"_Ugh! I know all of this already from when my mom taught me!"_

Slowly, my eyes wandered over to Kakashi-sensei, who had just hit Naruto upside the head for speaking out of turn.

"_A moment ago, while we were in the forest and I had spazzed out, Sensei said I was just like mom. How'd he know what my mom was like? Did they know each other?"_

The Hokage's voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Well, ok."

We all looked over at him, "Huh?"

"If you want it that much, I'll give you a C-ranked mission. It's a protection mission of a certain individual."

Naruto jumped up, "Who?! Who?! A feudal lord?!! A princess?!!"

"Calm down. I'm about to introduce him."

He turned towards the side door, "You may come in now."

The door slowly creaked open and revealed an old man who appeared to be at least in his sixties. In his hand was a bottle of sake, which looked half empty.

"What's this?" the old man asked before taking a swig of his alcohol, "They're all just a bunch of super brats. Especially, the short one with the stupid look on his face. Are you really a ninja? Hey?!!"

Naruto started laughing, "Haha! Who's the shortest one with the stupid face…"

"_Um, well. Let's see. Sasuke's taller than me, Sakura's shorter than me and taller than you…"_

Eventually, Naruto figured it out and instantly snapped like a crazy man in a mental institute.

"**I'LL KILL YOU!!!"**

Kakashi held him back by his collar, "What's the point of killing the person we're supposed to protect? Idiot!"

The man took another swig of his sake, "I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna. I expect you to provide me with super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

"_Haha. Bob the builder! Can we fix it? Bob the builder! Yes, we can!"_

The Next Day.

It was about eight in the morning and I was packing the last of my supplies before heading off to meet up with the rest of my squad at the village gates. Dressed in a pair of black shorts that reached the middle of my thighs, a long black sports tank that passed my waist and a pair of thin black and white stripped gloves that went up to my elbows, I finished packing my extra clothes, my basic beauty products, my art journal and my kunai cleaning kit, I started to head out the door. Suddenly, I ran back into my room and grabbed my special charm necklace that my mother made for me when I was little. It was a half of a yin-yang charm. Okami had the other half. My mother told us that the necklaces were dream charms. Used to keep in touch with whoever has the other half and gave the wearer the ability to communicate through their dreams. I told Okami to wear it when we were at the Ichiraku Noodle Shop last night.

After putting it around my neck, I grabbed my bag, slipped on my shoes, slipped my earphones in my ears and my Ipod in my pocket, closed the front door and headed to our meeting spot.

When I got there, Naruto was bouncing around happily. He saw me and ran over.

"Morning Kao-chan!"

"Hey, Naru-kun."

He turned back around to face the others and pumped both fists into the air.

"LET'S GO!!!!"

Sakura looked at him in disbelief, "What are you so excited about?"

"Cause, I've never left the village before."

Tazuna examined Naruto, "Hey. Am I really going to be safe with this brat?"

"Hehe, well," Kakashi said sheepishly, "I am a Jounin, don't worry."

Naruto snapped…again.

"Hey! Old man! Don't mess with ninjas!! I'm incredible!!"

He pointed at Tazuna before continuing.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and one day I will take on the super elite ninja title, Hokage!"

Tazuna chuckled, "Hokage is the village's #1 ninja, right? I doubt someone like you could become it…."

"SHUT UP!!! I am prepared to do anything to become Hokage!! Once I do, you will acknowledge me!!"

"Humph. No I won't, brat. Even if you did become Hokage."

"_Ouch."_

"**I'LL KILL YOU!!!"**

"_And, he's off, ladies and gentleman!"_

About a half an hour later, we were on our way to the Land of Waves. Sakura just asked one of the dumbest questions in the world: 'Kakashi-sensei, are there ninjas in that country, too?' Idiot. The Land of Waves in one of the few that don't have ninjas like us. Geez, and she was at the top of the class with me, Okami and Uchiha? Ugh.

I sighed and started to take in our surroundings. The warm sunlight with the occasional soft breeze. The songs that the birds were singing in the distance sounded so heavenly, I even took out my earphones, wrapped them around my Ipod and put it away in a secret steel-enforced, fire-proof, six digit code reinforced, fingerprint scan protected compartment in my bag. (lol)

Looking up, I sighed peacefully.

"_Man. It's so beautiful today. The sun is shining, the birds are singing. Too bad there aren't any clouds. I wanted to find another panda bear or something. I told Okami about that other one while we ate ramen and she laughed so hard, she fell out of her chair. That was funny!"_

I returned my gaze to the front and I noticed a small puddle on the side of the dirt road.

"_Why is there a puddle here? We haven't had rain in days…"_

Just as I was about to bring up the puddle to Kakashi-sensei, a kunai appeared at my neck and a pair of strong arms grabbed me, pulling me up into the treetops.

"Scream and I slice that pretty little head clean off, princess." A dark voice commanded.

"_**HOLY SHIT!!!!"**_

(COPY AND PASTE TIME!! I'm not that good at describing fight scenes unless I make them so, here's the easy way out!!)(Note: Kaori isn't here, remember? She was kidnapped.)

Sasuke's POV

After Naruto's little episode, I looked around for any more signs of other ninjas that might attack us when I realized something.

"_Where's Tsukiko?"_

Kakashi stopped talking to Tazuna for a moment and looked at us.

"Huh? Wait. Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Tazuna, Me ….Um, where's Kaori?"

Just then, as if on cue, Tsukiko stormed out of the forest on our right and she was dragging a rope behind her. Tied to the rope were six ninja, dressed identical to the ones we just dealt with.

"Stupid Wave Chuunin," she growled, "I was just walking down the road, minding my own business admiring the beauty of nature when all of a sudden, BAM! They come out of nowhere and try kidnapping me!"

She turned to face one the ninja she had caught.

"WHAT IN THE SEVEN HELLS IS WRONG WITH YOU?! I _**KNOW**_your parents raised you better than that!! And another thing! CALL ME PRINCESS OR ANY OTHER GIRLY NAME LIKE THAT, AND I WILL RIP OUT YOUR VOCAL CORDS, TIE THEM IN A KNOT, SHOVE THEM BACK DOWN YOUR THROAT AND YOU'LL END UP SPEAKING BACKWARDS, **GOT IT?!?!** "

My eyes widened in complete shock.

"_We could barely handle these two until Kakashi stepped in! How'd she take out SIX?! __**BY HERSELF**__?!"_


	10. Chapter 9

(Chapter Title Provided by Joel Scott Shook II)

Kaori's POV

"_Fuck land,_

_I'm on a boat motherfucker!_

_Fuck trees,_

_I climb buoys motherfucker!_

_I'm on the deck with my boys motherfucker!_

_The boat engine makes noise motherfucker!"_

The "I'm on a boat" lyrics weren't that random as they semi-blasted into my ears. Probably because, we were actually in a boat. In the water. Surrounded by a crap load of mist. The song eventually went off and the battery needed charging soon, so I put it away in its wonderful pocket of unlimited protection. Tazuna, my team, and the guy steering the boat, were all trying to see through the mist.

"We should see the bridge soon." The boat-steering guy said, "The Wave country is at the base of the bridge."

Soon, the giant bridge loomed into view. Even though it's not finished yet, it was still intimidating in a way.

"WOW!! IT'S HUGE!!" Naruto practically screamed to the whole world.

Mr. Boat steering guy glared poisonous daggers at Naruto, "Hey. Be quiet! Why do you think we're hiding in the mist and not using the engine?"

Turning around, I noticed an engine attached to the back of the boat.

"_Ha-ha. I feel slow now."_

"We'll be in deep trouble if Gatou finds us."

Ahhh, Gatou. The evil sonofabitch who took over the Land of Waves like a plague of stupidness. (lol)

"Anyway," he continued, "We'll be there soon. Tazuna, it looks like we've avoided detection but, just in case, we'll take the route that has vegetation. It will make it harder to spot us."

Tazuna nodded in agreement, "Thanks."

We headed into a large tunnel and when we reached the other side, we saw the village. It was smaller and a lot quieter than the Leaf Village. Soon, we docked, said good-bye to Mr. Boat-Man and were once again, walking. I swear, if you want to lose weight, BECOME A NINJA! Constant walking, running, throwing things, thinking—exercise is unavoidable!

"Okay," Tazuna cheered, "Get me home safely!"

"_That's the idea, old man. But keep having sudden outbursts like that and we might 'improvise'…"_

Suddenly, Naruto threw a shuriken some random direction.

"THERE!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin, "Holy Sh--!"

Dead silence occupied the air around us as Naruto "inspected" the area.

He played it off, "Hehe. Just a rat."

"Stop trying to act cool! There was nothing there!" Sakura yelled.

Kakashi had a nervous look on his face, "Hey, please stop using shuriken. It's seriously dangerous."

Tazuna almost had a heart-attack, "Hey, midget! Stop acting like a moron!"

"Hey, I think I see a shadow…" Naruto continued.

He began to look around rapidly until he turned his attention to a large tree surrounded by thick bushes.

"THERE!!" he yelled, throwing another shuriken.

Sakura ran over to him and hit him upside the head, "I SAID STOP!"

"OWW!! Somebody is after us! I swear!"

"YEAH, RIGHT!"

We all walked over to where Naruto had beamed his throwing star and saw a white bunny rabbit. In between its ears was a point from the shuriken as it pierced the large tree behind it.

"NARUTO! WHAT'D HAVE YOU DONE?!"

He scooped up the scared rabbit, "I didn't mean it! I'm sorry, Lil rabbit!"

"_What is up with animal abuse lately?!"_

I heard a tree branch snap suddenly and Kakashi turned to face us.

"Everyone, get down!"

We all obeyed his orders just in time for a large spinning sword to soar above our heads before it sliced into a thick nearby tree. Recovering from the sudden attack, we all looked up and say a man standing on top of the sword. He had grey colored skin, short, spiky black hair and beady black eyes. He was wearing a pair of vertically stripped grey pants the passed his waist and stopped in the middle of his stomach and no shirt. Bandages covered most of his face and a pair of black, white and grey camouflage slip-on sleeves, almost like Ino's.

"_Who the heck is this guy?"_

Kakashi slipped his hands into his pant pockets, "Well, well. If it isn't the Hidden Mist's Missing-Nin, Zabuza Momochi."

Naruto was ready to lung into action but sensei held him back.

"Everyone get back. This one's on a whole other level."

With that, Kakashi began to remove the side of his Leaf headband that covered his left eye.

"It will be a little tough, unless I do this..."

The guy, Zabuza, spoke up.

"You appear Kakashi Hatake, The Copy-Cat Ninja. Sorry but, the old man is mine."

Kakashi continued to lift up his headband, "Surround and protect Tazuna. That's the teamwork here. Do _not _enter this fight. Do you understand?"

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and I nodded.

Sensei lifted his headband, revealing his left eye, which was red with three round symbols around the pupil.

"Zabuza, if you want the bridge builder, you'll have to go through me first."

The missing-nin squinted in amusement, "Ah, I already get to see the famous sharingan. I'm honored."

Naruto looked at us, "Sharingan!! Sharingan!! What is that?"

"Sharingan," Sasuke started, "It is said that some have the ability in their eyes to read and defeat all types of Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and Ninjutsu. The Sharingan is one of those types of pupil that gives you this prove."

He paused as we took all of this information in.

"But, that's not the only ability the sharingan has."

We raised our eyebrows in confusion, "Huh?"

Zabuza chuckled, "Hehe. Exactly. That's not all. What's even scarier is that, you can copy your opponent's techniques once you see them. When I was a member of the Hidden Mist's Assassin team, I kept a handbook, it included information on you. And this is what it said, 'The Man Who has copied over 100 Jutsu, Kakashi 'The Copy Ninja' Hatake."

I looked at Kakashi-sensei and studied him a bit.

"_Woah. No way. Kakashi-sensei? That awesome? Cool…"_

Zabuza crouched down on his sword, "Now, let's end all the talking. I have to kill that old man. But, Kakashi-sensei. It appears that I have to beat you first!"

He suddenly disappeared, taking his large sword with him. We all began to frantically look around for him, when Naruto spotted him.

"Over there!"

Sakura's jaw dropped, "And on top of the water!"

Zabuza made a hand sign with his right hand while his left arm was extended in an upward position above him.

"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu."

Thick mist appeared around us, just like on the boat, and once again, he had disappeared.

"He's gone!" Sakura pointed out.

Kakashi tensed up a bit, "He'll come after me first. Zabuza Momochi. As a member of the Hidden Mist, he was known as an expert in silent killing. You don't even notice until you're already dead. It's not like I can use the sharingan perfectly. You guys be careful."

The four of us positioned ourselves in a defensive formation line-up around Tazuna: Sasuke stood in front and to the right of him, Naruto covered the far left, Sakura had the far right and I stood in the front to the left of him, each of us had a kunai in hand as well.

"_Man, this is insane! I feel this dark aura floating around Zabuza. The same I felt when my uncle…no. I will __**never **__call that 'thing' by a family name…"_

"Sasuke!"

Kakashi's voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I saw Sasuke about to stab himself with his own kunai.

Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura and I looked up at sensei as his smiled.

"Don't worry. I'll protect you guys even if it kills me. I don't let my comrades die."

I felt a feeling of comfort wash over me as he said this.

Some of that comfort shattered as Zabuza's dark voice echoed around us.

"We'll see about that!"

A spine-chilling wave shot through my body and the hairs on the back of neck stood up. I didn't know why at first, and then I noticed Zabuza had maneuvered his way past our formation and was now in between us and Tazuna.

"_Crap! Where did he come from?!"_

He was about to strike then Kakashi tackled him from the side and stabbed him with a kunai knife. My squad and I were thrown off a bit, leaving Tazuna wide open, then Naruto pointed behind Kakashi in fear.

"Sensei!! Behind you!!"

Zabuza appeared behind him, ready to swing his giant sword and slice our sensei in two. The Zabuza that sensei had stabbed, exploded in a splash of water.

"_A water clone?!"_

Before Kakashi could react, Zabuza did a through-and-through cut above our sensei's waist.

"GYAAAAH!!!"Sakura screamed in horror.

But, fortunately, sensei had created a clone to take his place, just in time. And, soon, was standing behind Zabuza with his kunai knife at the missing-nin's throat.

"Don't move. It's over."

Naruto smiled, "All right!"

"Ha-ha!" Sakura giggled.

But, Zabuza simply chuckled in amusement, making me even more confused.

"_Why is he laughing? There's nothing to be laughing about! WHY IS HE LAUGHING?!"_

"Hehe. It's over? You don't get it. There's no way you can defeat me with your monkey-like imitations. Hehe, but that was impressive of you. At that time, you had already copied my water-clone jutsu. And you had your clone say those words to attract my attention, while the real you hid in the mist and watched me. Nice plan. But…"

Suddenly, _that _Zabuza became a simple puddle of water and the _real _Zabuza appeared behind sensei holding a kunai of his own to his neck.

"I'm also not that easy, Hatake."

Naruto gasped, "That one was a clone, too?!"

The rest happened so fast. Zabuza swung with his sword. Kakashi dodged it. The rest was a blur, but somehow, sensei ended up in the lake where Zabuza had performed his hidden mist jutsu.

"Foolish…" I overheard Zabuza say.

"Sensei!" Naruto yelled.

Kakashi emerged from the water, but it appeared that he had a hard time getting out. While he struggled, Zabuza appeared behind him and performed a sequence of hand signs.

"Water prison jutsu!"

Within seconds, Kakashi was trapped in a large sphere of water which Zabuza had half of his right arm in.

"You may have been trying to escape to the water, but that was a big mistake, Kakashi. Hehehe, I now have you in my inescapable special prison. It makes things tougher if you can move, you know?"

He made another hand sign, "Now…Kakashi _we _can finish things later. First, I'll take care of them. Water Clone Jutsu!"

A water clone of Zabuza formed a few feet away from us.

"_This is bad. Really, really bad!"_

"Hehe, wearing forehead protectors and acting like real ninjas. But you know what? A real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death."

His clone made a hand sign as well, "Basically, once you're good enough to be listed in my handbook, then you can start calling yourself a ninja. You guys should not be referred to as ninjas."

"_Here comes that damn mist again…"_

BAM! Naruto was sent flying by a kick thrown by 'Zabuza,' knocking off his headband.

Sakura watched as Naruto was thrown back and skidded on the ground, "Naruto!"

Kakashi-sensei started yelling at us, "You guys! Take Tazuna and run away! You have no chance of beating him! As long as he's keeping me trapped in this prison, he can't move! The water clone can't travel that far from his real body! Just run away now!"

Naruto was about to run away but he stopped when he accidentally put pressure on his bandaged hand, which stunned him for a minute. I watched him as he stared at it.

"_When did that happen? Probably when those goons tried kidnapping me."_

He turned around to face Zabuza, who was stepping on his headband. Then he charged at him.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Kakashi's eyes widened, "No!! Naruto, don't!!"

"Naruto, what are you thinking?!" Sakura gasped.

Zabuza knocked him back again before Naruto got any closer. His skidding came to a halt about 6 feet in front of us.

Once again, Sakura yelled at him.

"What are you doing jumping in there all by yourself? We Genin have no chance against him!!!"

Naruto struggled to get up. That's when I noticed what he had in his hand and I smirked a little.

"_He wasn't trying to fight Zabuza. He just wanted to get his forehead protector back."_

"Hey, you eyebrow less freak." Naruto sneered at Zabuza, who was taken back by this, "Put this in your handbook. The man who will one day become Hokage…"

He stood up straight and tied his headband around his forehead.

"Leaf Village Ninja: Naruto Uzumaki!"

"_Naruto…you freakin' rule, dude!"_

He turned to the side a little, "Sasuke."

"What?"

"I've got a plan."

Sasuke scoffed, "Teamwork from you?"

"Now, let's get wild!"

Zabuza chuckled manically, "A lot of arrogance. But, do you stand a chance?"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING," Kakashi yelled again, "RUN AWAY! THIS FIGHT WAS OVER THE MOMENT I WAS CAUGHT! Our duty is to protect Tazuna!! DID YOU FORGET THAT?!"

We looked back at the bridge builder.

I cleared my throat, "Um, old man?"

"Well," Tazuna sighed, "I planted this seed myself. I'm not going to now say that I desire to live so much that I'd stop you. I'm sorry guys. Fight as much as you want!"

Sasuke scoffed again and turned towards Zabuza, "Pfft. You hear that?"

"Are you ready?" Naruto smiled.

Things we looking up, until that familiar evil laughter rang in our ears again.

"Hah. Hahahaha! You guys will never grow up.

"WHAT?!"

"Going to keep playing ninja, eh? When I….When I was about your age, these hands were already dyed red with blood!"

An eerie silence came over us as we heard this.

Kakashi side-glanced at Zabuza, "The Devil of the Mist…."

"Ah, Kakashi. So you've heard a little about it."

"Long ago, in the Hidden Mist village, also called the Blood Mist village, there was a final obstacle in becoming a ninja."

"Hm. You even know about the graduation exam…"

Naruto looked on, confused, "Graduation exam? What's this graduation exam thing?"

Zabuza was once again on the evil laughing gas.

"Fights to the death between the students."

"_Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap!!!"_

Kakashi's eyes darkened a bit, "These are friends who had helped each other and shared dreams. Friends who had trained and eaten at the same table were pitted against each other and go at it, until one of them loses his life."

Sakura's eyes began to water a bit, "…how terrible…"

"Ten years ago, the Hidden Mist graduation exam was forced to change. This change came after the previous year, when a devil appeared."

"Change?" Sakura questioned, "What change? What did this devil do?"

"Without pause or hesitation, "Kakashi started, "a young boy who was not even a ninja, had killed over a hundred of the students."

Cue evil laughing gas.

"Hehe…" Zabuza snickered looking up as he smiled with his eyes, "That sure was fun."

Then, he focused his twisted gaze on Naruto and Sasuke, and a split second later, he was only a few feet way from the Uchiha, ready to strike.

That's when _I _snapped.

Before Zabuza had a chance to even touch Sasuke, I appeared in front of him and socked him square in the face as hard as I could. He flew back a couple feet before I lunged forward and round-house kicked him in the chest, sending him back a few more feet.

Apparently, he didn't expect me to be so strong, because he went into a coughing fit after my kick landed. I performed a sequence of hand signs.

"Ha! My turn! Tsukiko art! Artic Mist Jutsu!"

Taking a deep breath, I blew out the air I had inhaled, causing an ice cold mist to shoot from my mouth. The ice hardened around his feet, his legs, and up to his waist.

"W-What the?!"

I charged at him and jumped in the air, extending my leg again for another kick.

"YOU SENILE, UNFORGIVABLE, SON OF A BIA--HHH!"

He swung his sword and knocked me off balance in mid-air, causing me to slightly spin out of control. The next thing I knew, his left hand had a tight grip around my neck, choking me.

Naruto took a step forward, "KAORI!!!!"

"Ugh! L-Let g-go of m-me, y-you mummified f-freak!"

He simply glared at me as my ice jutsu canceled out, freeing his lower body, "I'll admit, Kakashi, this one's got spunk. Pretty strong for a kunoichi, too. I'll enjoy killing her. Hehehe…"

I swung my legs, trying to kick him and I tried using my hands to loosen up his grip on me. It worked just enough for me to perform the ice jutsu again. I opened my mouth slightly and his arm slowly started to freeze as the crystal blue mist covered it. Just as the mist was about to reach his shoulder, Zabuza tightened his grip even more, and I choked a little bit, shutting my eyes. When I reopened them, the once blue mist was gradually turning a light pink.

"_D-damn. That's not good."_

He tossed me into the air like an old rag doll, and then he kicked me, sending me flying into a tree. A sharp ache exploded from my back and sent a shockwave of pain throughout my whole body as I fell onto the ground below. My vision became blurry and my eyelids felt heavy.

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!!"

That was the last thing I heard before my strength left my body.

Then…

Everything went black.


End file.
